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The word "cult" can be a tough nut to swallow for current members of the
Church of Scientology who are struggling with their doubts about the
organization.

Just for the record - the context in which the word "cult" is frequently used on this blog is to denote a destructive group that does more harm than good, which has been proven beyond a doubt to apply to the Church of Scientology.

Currently, the widely accepted standard amongst cult education experts is the following checklist by Janja Lalich, Ph.D. & Michael D. Langone, Ph.D. A publicly available version of this checklist is also available (outside of Scribd) on the backlink for this post's title compliments of the Cult Information and Family Support network in Australia.

This list of defining characteristics of what makes their so-called "Church" a cult by modern standards may possible help to gently adjust a current member's perspective. And hopefully - enable someone to see beyond the indoctrination PR in order to critically evaluate for themselves whether or not the Church of Scientology is the type of group they want to be an active participant in.